While the weather in southern New England will be quiet today, we’re tracking a significant storm moving across the central part of the US. It’s a storm that’s brought blizzard conditions to the northern Plains and severe weather to the deep south. In fact, there are reports of a tornado overnight near Mobile, AL. That entire storm system will push east, and send a windswept rain into southern New England… right as we mark the arrival of the Winter Solstice at 6:12am EST.

The national weather service this morning placed areas south and east or Providence and Boston under a High Wind Watch this morning. The watch was issued due to the potential for southeast wind gusts up to 40-60mph. Winds of that strength could lead to downed trees and power lines, possibly causing isolated power outages.

High Wind Watch

The rain will be heavy at times from late morning into mid-afternoon (10am-3pm) and an isolated thunderstorm is possible. Many areas will end up with around 1″ of rain. Behind the storm, cooler air will drain in… and other than a few lingering flurries or sprinkles on Saturday the weather will be quiet leading up to Christmas.

I still think our chances of seeing a white Christmas are slim…. but maybe not completely non-existent. Some of our computer models are continuing to show a very week system passing close to our coast early on Christmas day…. while there’s a good chance this will miss us… if it tracks in the right spot, we could see some snow showers or flurries. It’s the sort of weather that would add to the ambiance… but shouldn’t foil travel plans.